48 INSESSORES. 
CHAPTER III. 
INSESSORES: PASSERES—OSCINES. 
THE CROW —COMMON AND YELLOW-BILLED MAGPIE — BLUE 
JAY —THE CANADA, FLORIDA, ULTAMARINE, STELLER’S, 
MEXICAN, AND PRINCE MAXIMILIAN JAY—GREAT AMERICAN 
SHRIKE — SOLITARY, WHITE-EYED, AND YELLOW-THROAT 
VIREO—CEDAR-BIRD—WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH. 
OF all the feathered inhabitants of America, with 
which we are acquainted, the Crow is probably the 
least of a favorite. Having little either in his ap- 
pearance or habits to recommend him, he seems to 
be regarded by general consent as a plundering vaga- 
bond, toward whom neither indulgence nor mercy are 
to be extended; and were it not that a beneficent 
Providence has gifted him with more than common 
sagacity, the race, in our agricultural districts at least, 
would have long since suffered a considerable dimi- 
nution of numbers. Watch the motions of yonder 
sportsman with his double-barrelled gun, as he cau- 
tiously follows the windings of that old worm-fence, 
upon a distant stake of which are perched two or 
three ominous-looking birds, while a dozen or more 
of the same sort are quietly rooting up the fresh- 
sprouted corn in an adjoining field. Well aware that 
the watchful eye of the sentinel is ever on the look- 
out for the approach of an enemy, he moves stealthily 
